Jamie Byng, 46, son of the 8th Earl of Strafford, grew up in Hampshire and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he joined Canongate Books as an intern and bought out the struggling Edinburgh publishing house two years later, aged just 25. His successes include the UK publication of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker prize in 2002 and sold more than 3m copies. In 2013 he set up Letters Live, “a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence” based in part on Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note books. Letters Live returns to London’s Freemasons’ Hall on Thursday 10 March.

How did Letters Live come about?In 2013 we published two books about letters on the same day. One was Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, which is a history of letter-writing. The other, Letters of Note, grew out of Shaun Usher’s website, which compiles great correspondence throughout history. We decided to promote both books by getting people to read out letters in a live setting. Nick Cave had a letter in Shaun’s book and he’s a good friend, so it was very straightforward to call him up and say “How’s about it?” Gillian Anderson went totally nuts for a Katharine Hepburn letter to Spencer Tracy. Everyone I asked who was around – Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Berry, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Robinson – said yes.

You’ve got a pretty good address book.It’s grown over the years. It helps that, for actors, it’s a really nice thing to do. You don’t need to do rehearsals or a soundcheck. You’re reading something really strong in front of appreciative audiences.

Do people choose which letters they read?We listen to their preferences. DBC Pierre is a big Bukowski fan so he read an amazing Bukowski letter. There’s a lot of fun you can have. I asked Ben Kingsley to read the letter Gandhi wrote to Hitler in 1939 and he said, ‘Lovely idea’. He hadn’t played Gandhi for 32 years. No one knew he was performing that night until he stepped on to the stage.

How would you categorise Letters Live? As theatre?It’s really hard to pigeonhole. There’s music woven in there too. It feels like theatre but we keep it so stripped down. Basically it’s just one person walking up to the microphone and reading a letter. I guess what you’re seeing is an incredible monologue. And for an actor, it’s so rare you get writing of this quality – the intensity and power of a really well-written letter.

There’s a lack of artifice in letters.If it’s an open letter there’s a clear awareness that it’s going to be read by lots of people, but when you read Virginia Woolf’s suicide letter to [her husband] Leonard, for instance, there’s not one comma of artifice, just pure expression. As a shared experience, listening to these letters being read out is quite something – people are laughing, crying. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever worked on.

You took Letters Live to Calais last month. How was that?First of all, Jude Law and I went out to see the camps at Calais and Dunkirk, which was really hardcore. Then we went back about nine days later and did an event with Tom Stoppard, Matt Berry, Tom Odell and Harriet Walter. A number of refugees wrote letters for the occasion and read them out, and we had some amazing musicians from the camp.

Jude Law reads his letter to David Cameron at the Letters Live event in Calais. Photograph: Souvid Datta for the Guardian

How important is it for a publishing company to do events like this?Publishing has always been challenging and the margins have never been worse. You have to be really canny to publish books successfully. Events like these are a simple but effective way of celebrating writing and performance, and they’re great from a financial point of view – it’s an interesting business model.

Do you have a favourite Letters Live moment?I remember being so affected by Benedict Cumberbatch reading Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter. He read that at the Freemasons’ Hall last run and I thought that was absolutely astonishing, had such an effect on me. And Nick Cave reading his own letter to MTV will always be a highlight.

Do you ever write letters?I do all the time but it’s mainly to accompany books I’m sending out. Otherwise the writing I do tends to be done by email or text.

Can digital correspondence be as delightful as physical letters?I would always prefer to read a physical book or letter. Ted Hughes has a lovely quote where he talks about the uniqueness of one’s handwriting, how it adds an emotional resonance. Emails are tone deaf, you can’t read irony, but you can with handwriting – it can be customised, personalised. That’s why emojis are just the worst – you’ve got such limited options.